Can Tenant Return after Moving Out?
I have a tenant that broke her lease and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. She had given me a security deposit before she moved in, but since she did not give me proper notice (and also broke her lease,) I ended up losing rent until I was able to find a new tenant….
I have a tenant that broke her lease and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. She had given me a security deposit before she moved in, but since she did not give me proper notice (and also broke her lease,) I ended up losing rent until I was able to find a new tenant. I was finally able to find a new tenant who has moved in. The old tenant is demanding her deposit back and threatening to move back into her old apt. if I don’t give it to her, claiming she still has a lease for the apt. The amount of rent I lost is more than the amount of the deposit. technically she is the one who owes me money but I don’t want to go through the headache of trying to sue her so I was just going to let it go. Does she have any right to move back into her old apt??
I actually had to change the front door lock since then (it’s been a couple months since she’s left and I had planned on changing the lock at some point since there was a family member of mine that had keys and kept going into the basement moving my things around and taking things thinking I didn’t want it since it was in the basement and it was driving me crazy!) for other reasons and she doesn’t have the new key since she didn’t need it since she moved out.
Don’t give her a cent. Let her take you to court.
Ok, I didn’t know you had those emails. I would keep the deposit. Wait for her to sue. My guess is she won’t. If she does then consult with a LL attorney on how to present your defense.
I don’t think you have anything to lose by holding the deposit.
One more consideration. I assume she still has the keys to both the building and the apartment. Is she the type of person who makes you nervous having access to the building and apartment?
Yes, I kept all the e-mails. Can she still say I illegally evicted her if I have these e-mails where she says she is moving out and signed a lease somewhere else and picked up the keys and I asked her how her new place was and she said good? etc? And I have witnesses to her moving out and she left nothing behind?
I hope that you kept those emails that she stated she had moved.The way i see it with the blooming idiots that judge in housing court and the way the laws are written, you prolly should have done an eviction and put it in the record that the tenant moved out so it was an inquest. Without the judgement in your hand she may say you illegally evicted her and legally get away with it
speak to a COMPETENT attorney well versed in the L&T field
You have a written lease specifying the end date.
The apartment was vacated as of X date.
Produce an account of the security deposit, ie, on Y date tenant paid dollars security which was deposited in account. It earned some interest, balance totaling: other dollars, minus 1%/year admin fee. Minus unpaid rent amount for the term of the lease until it was re-rented. You have to demonstrate that you made a reasonable (not herculean) effort to re-rent the apartment. Send her the accounting registered, return receipt. Then let her take you to court.
no, she was not paying. She did not pay rent for the last month she lived there and I also lost another month of rent trying to find someone else. I had already paid an attorney to prepare and have a rent demand notice served and as far as I know they sent the notice certified mail but don’t know if she received it or if the process server managed to get the notice to her because she moved out right when we were sending it. She never mentioned having received it.
Was she paying her rent when she was gone?
Did she pay until she moved out & you kept the security deposit but it took longer than a month to rent it out again?
What you want if you are agreeing let the tenant leave is a lease surrender agreement so you can go ahead and get another tenant. I might start with the position: “you moved out & owe me X months rent, less the security deposit” but I think it’s worth offering to give her half the deposit back IF she signs a lease surrender agreement. That should settle it with her having no further claims to the apartment.